Yahoo reportedly in early stage talks to acquire Hulu

The new Yahoo under Marissa Mayer is in early stage talks to acquire online video site Hulu, according to AllThingsD. The report says there hasn't been a formal offer put on the table yet, though Mayer has met several top-Hulu execs to see how the video site would tie into Yahoo's existing comeback plan.

The move to make a video acquisition is nothing new for Yahoo, which tried to purchase a $300 million majority stake in France Télécom’s Dailymotion video service earlier in the year and was rejected by a regulatory official who didn't want the company to move out of France.

The acquisition of Hulu would be big for the company. Under Mayer's leadership, which begun in the summer of 2012, Yahoo has begun snatching up several smaller mobile companies as it works to increase its presence on mobile. The acquisitions have led to a beautiful new Yahoo Weather app and a redesign of the Yahoo app to include Summly tech.

In recent months Yahoo has also begun focusing more on video, as it announced last month it will have exclusive right to a slew of Saturday Night Live clips to host on its site. Hulu's video content would play nicely with Yahoo's plans to offer "original content alongside a larger tranche of curated content from across the web".

If Yahoo is serious about its Hulu bid, it had better be ready to bring the cash. The company has previously been valued at around $2 billion, considering its 2012 revenue topped $700 million.

We'll be on the look out to see if the Yahoo/Hulu deal materialises. Given AllThingsD's usually very spot-on sources, this sounds real.